Commodity plastic burning as a source of inhaled toxic aerosols

Wu, Di; Li, Qing; Shang, Xiaona; Liang, Yingguang; Ding, Xiang; Sun, Hao; Li, Shuya; Wang, Yafei; Chen, Yingjun; Chen, Jianmin

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125820

Cited by 46 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Tamil Nadu was one among the top five states in India producing the highest amount of plastic waste during the first wave of pandemic between June 2020 to November 2020 ( Mallick et al, 2021 ). Burning of plastic waste might lead to an emission factor of up to 12,446 ng/kg of PCBs ( Wu et al, 2021 ). Hence such rise in the level of indicator PCBs during the pandemic especially after the lockdown phase can be attributed to open burning of dumped waste containing additional waste plastic from PPE.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legacy and new chlorinated persistent organic pollutants in the rivers of south India: Occurrences, sources, variations before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic

Rex

Chakraborty²

2022

Journal of Hazardous Materials

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legacy and new chlorinated persistent organic pollutants in the rivers of south India: Occurrences, sources, variations before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic

Rex

Chakraborty²

2022

Journal of Hazardous Materials

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“…[11,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] . MPs in the air are released from wear and tear of clothing material [27][28][29] , by washing and drying [30] , erosion of synthetic rubber tires, deterioration of house furniture, emissions from the synthetic textile industry, emissions from vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industries, and contamination from city dust [18][19][20][21] [Figure 1]. In addition, substantial quantities of plastics are being burned in open landfills on a daily basis, which results in the volatilization of various harmful compounds that inevitably integrate into the atmospheric aerosol [31,32] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in the atmosphere: a review

Habibi¹,

Uddin²,

Fowler³

et al. 2022

JEEA

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Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants of considerable persistence and have been a global concern for the past decade. Recently, atmospheric MPs have gained attention. The presence of MPs in the air has been reported from different regions and in air masses over water bodies, demonstrating MPs’ capability of long-range transport and wide spatial distribution away from their source of origin. This review of atmospheric MPs raises questions about the validity and legitimacy of approaches adopted for assessing MP in indoor and outdoor aerosols. The review also provides insight into active and passive sampling techniques and draws attention to the use of the data produced. MP abundance in the atmosphere varies widely among studies due to the disparities in methods employed and the heterogeneity in reporting, making comparisons across spatio-temporal domains infructuous. This review also highlights the paucity of data on atmospheric MPs, and the eminent need to harmonize the methodology for generating a useful comparable dataset that can be used for human health risk assessments.

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“…2,4,7−9,11,12−14 Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans are emitted from burning chlorine containing plastic and are highly toxic, teratogenic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic. 3,7,15 Waste burning also emits gas-phase hydrochloric acid, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and other volatile organic compounds. 16 Although studies on waste burning impacts on air quality are rare, it has been estimated to have a large impact in some urban airsheds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4,23 As a means of tracking plastic burning in the atmosphere, several chemical tracers have been proposed: metals that are uniquely enriched in solid waste burning emissions (e.g., Sb, As, Sn, and/or Cd) and organic compounds, such as triphenylbenzene, phthalates, or terephthalic acid. 2,3,12,24 Among the possible tracers, this study focuses on 1,3,5triphenylbenzene (TPB), which is produced from burning plastic and has been recommended as a tracer of PM emitted from the combustion of plastics and landfill waste. 2,10,24 It has not been detected in other types of combustion emissions, including fossil fuels and biomass, indicating that it is unique to plastic combustion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plastic Burning Impacts on Atmospheric Fine Particulate Matter at Urban and Rural Sites in the USA and Bangladesh

et al. 2022

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To better understand the impact of plastic burning on atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), we evaluated two methods for the quantification of 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (TPB), a molecular tracer of plastic burning. Compared to traditional solvent-extraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) techniques, thermal-desorption (TD) GCMS provided higher throughput, lower limits of detection, more precise spike recoveries, a wider linear quantification range, and reduced solvent use. This method enabled quantification of TPB in fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) samples collected at rural and urban sites in the USA and Bangladesh. These analyses demonstrated a measurable impact of plastic burning at 5 of the 6 study locations, with the largest absolute and relative TPB concentrations occurring in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where plastic burning is expected to be a significant source of PM 2.5 . Background-level contributions of plastic burning in the USA were estimated to be 0.004−0.03 μg m −3 of PM 2.5 mass. Across the four sites in the USA, the lower estimate of plastic burning contributions to PM 2.5 ranged 0.04−0.8%, while the median estimate ranged 0.3−3% (save for Atlanta, Georgia, in the wintertime at 2−7%). The results demonstrate a consistent presence of plastic burning emissions in ambient PM 2.5 across urban and rural sites in the USA, with a relatively small impact in comparison to other anthropogenic combustion sources in most cases. Much higher TPB concentrations were observed in Dhaka, with estimated plastic burning impacts on PM 2.5 ranging from a lower estimate of 0.3−1.8 μg m −3 (0.6−2% of PM 2.5 ) and the median estimate ranging 2−35 μg m −3 (5−15% of PM 2.5 ). The methodological advances and new measurements presented herein help to assess the air quality impacts of burning plastic more broadly.

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Commodity plastic burning as a source of inhaled toxic aerosols

Cited by 46 publications

References 59 publications

Legacy and new chlorinated persistent organic pollutants in the rivers of south India: Occurrences, sources, variations before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic

Legacy and new chlorinated persistent organic pollutants in the rivers of south India: Occurrences, sources, variations before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic

Microplastics in the atmosphere: a review

Plastic Burning Impacts on Atmospheric Fine Particulate Matter at Urban and Rural Sites in the USA and Bangladesh

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